Redeeming the Past
by MetallicAngel30
Summary: Bella's been having dreams of a handsome stranger, problem is, he's either long since dead, ir not real at all. Can she save Imhotep from Ankh-Su-Namun and himself before it's too late?
1. Feeling the Past

**_A/N: I'm publishing this because I am bored. I leave it up to y'all, whether or not I continue. ~Angel_**

Bella shivered as her still half wet clothes clung to her. She knew running through that fountain was a bad idea. But she had no other way of getting to the idiot quickly enough. She had long gotten over her heartbreak of losing him, having come to the conclusion that he was nothing more than a spoiled brat allowed to run amok in his own coven. This whole thing started when she decided to cliff dive.

All right, she'll call it like it is. She wasn't cliff diving persé; after all, she wasn't doing it for fun. She wanted to see him again. The man who had been haunting her dreams since mid- July. Even before Edward had broken up with her. It was an interesting twist of fate that she always had the dreams when he wasn't watching her sleep. As such, she had had more of them since he had abandoned her in the woods. The man with a clean shaved head, olive skin, dark brown, almost black eyes, and a mischievous smile that brought a soft upturn of her lips every time she thought about him.

Jacob was adamantly sure that she was either trying to kill herself or that she was attempting to see Edward, and nearly dying was an unfortunate byproduct of that. But it was neither. It was for the as yet unnamed man of her dreams. A curious longing had also taken residence in her being since the dreams began. Strong enough to knock Edward clear out of her thoughts.

A longing that grew the closer she got to Volterra. It became painful as they were lead into a throne room with a high arching ceiling, and surrounded in marble. Her breathing became slightly heaver and more labored. She had to fight to stay in the present as a feeling of disconnectedness grew with astonishing strength.

"Sister. They send you out to get one and you bring back two… and a half. Such a clever girl," she heard, but only just. There was a low murmur, gradually getting louder in her ears. It was a soft, soothing litany. Like poetry or someone chanting. Definitely someone chanting.

"What a happy surprise!" said a man with paper white skin, and glowing ruby red eyes. "Bella is alive, after all. Isn't that wonderful? I love a happy ending." He approached them and gathered Edward's hand into his own. The hand that Bella had been holding on to for dear life to ground her to the present.

With out it's hold, she was immediately sucked into the trance that had been threatening to take over, causing her to fall to her knees.

"**_He is gone! His soul is no longer in the in between!"_** she said in a mournful tone. The fact that only the three rulers could understand her caused said three to freeze as the rest of the room looked on with mixed expressions of curiosity, apprehension, and slight fear. It was Marcus who answered her. In a tongue long forgotten, not spoken for the better part of 2000 years. The fact that this was the most interest he had shown in an equally long time was lost on no one.

"**_Who? Who is gone?"_** he asked softly.

"**_Imhotep. The second Champion and my one true love," _**she cried.

"Aro, call Amun," Marcus said, never raising his voice, as he rose from his throne and made as if to approach the young woman.. "Perhaps he can shed some light on how a modern 18 year old girl knows the Ancient Egyptian language so flawlessly."

"Bella? Bella, are you all right? What's happening? Alice?" Edward said, his voice nearly reaching panicking, when he couldn't break Bella out of her trance. "What have you done to her?!" he demanded of Aro.

"Peace, young Edward. We have done nothing. Indeed, we are just as surprised as you are. We will hopefully, now get some answers," Aro tried to placate as he turned to Demitri, who had his cell phone out and on speaker.

"Demitri," came the one word greeting in a thick accent.

"Amun. We have a situation," he said.

"And that situation would be?"

"**_Amun?! Amun, my love. Where are you? I hear you, but don't see you,"_** Bella said, her glazed eyes looking around for the voice over the phone.

"Aro, you are there, correct?" came a slow, measured, and stunned voice of the head of the Egyptian coven.

"I am."

"Then listen to me very carefully. Nothing happens to that young woman. She is to be left as she is in your throne room. Do you understand? I promise you, if Jane so much as thinks of using her powers on that girl, your castle will be in rubble at your feet before the thought is complete."

"Is that a threat, Amun," Aro asked curiously.

"No, Aro. Not from me. Though I would find you after and destroy you regardless, the threat... is already within your walls, in the form of that young woman. We are on our way. We will be there in 4 hours." Then the line went dead. The entire throne room was silent, bar the continued pleas from Bella for Amun.

It was a tense 4 hours and some minutes. Some of the vampires present would say the longest of their unnaturally long lives. But the time did indeed come when Amun, his mate Kebi, and two other members of the coven, all but burst into the throne room doors.

"Aro," Amun said, as he took in the assembled immortals and lone mortal.

Bella's head whipped around at the voice, and her pleas, which had started tapering off, renewed themselves.

"**_Amun?! Amun, he is gone. His spirit no longer walks this life or the after!"_** she said urgently. If vampires could pale, Amun and those with him, would have; though the love in his eyes for the girl kneeling in the middle of the throne room was evident.

"**_Hail Aset, first of the divine amongst women! Your peace is with me, and I am with your peace._**

**_Hail Aset, first of the divine amongst women! Your love abounds, your kindness grows and within me your spirit flourishes."_** Amun began to chant in awe as he slowly, step by step approached the kneeling girl.

"**_Hail Aset, first of the diving amongst women! Whatever I touch is touched by you, for there is no heart in all of creation that has not been touched by you._**

**_Hail Aset, first of the divine amongst women! I am your lighthouse. The beacon of your justice, generosity, and salvation."_** By this time, his mate, and two fellow coven members were chanting with him.

"**_Hail Aset, first of the divine amongst women! Blessed are you amongst the gods. For the fruit that came forth from your womb was the Sun." _**Demitri, never losing the knowledge and stories the man he grew to love as a father, imparted to him, also joined in. An unearthly light began to shine out of Bella. Soft at first, then growing in power as the chant progressed.

"**_Hail Aset, first of the divine amongst women! Fill my hands with your purpose, and strengthen my feet with your divine power. For you are the shield of the weak, and the arm of the oppressed. And those that call upon you shall not fall to darkness, but be lifted into the embrace of everlasting life._**

**_Hail Aset, first of the divine amongst women! Walk with my heart, and shape my life to your purpose. For from you I receive tenderness, mercy, solace, and light. And to all I bestow these virtues, for you, my mother," _**Amun was now kneeling with Bella, looking her right in the eye. The last two words he uttered, said in complete adoration, as he smoothed a lock of her hair around behind her ear.

"**_Are the mother of all."_**

Bella looked into the dark burgundy eyes of the ancient in front of her and fell forward into his arms with a sob.

"**_Amun! My beloved son!"_**

~~~~~~~~~)O(~~~~~~~~~

It took some time for Amun to calm the sobbing young woman. And even then, once she began to calm, she passed right out in his lap.

"Aro, could you possibly have a pillow and a blanket brought for this young woman?" Amun asked.

"Why not just carry her to one of the guest quarters?" Marcus suggested. Amun shook his head.

"Trust me, she won't be out for long, and it would be better all around if she just stayed here," he tells them.

"Very well. Though, I'm sure we would all like an explanation of what is going on," Aro put in, giving a non committal wave of his hand to have the order executed. Amun nodded, and sighed.

"I am the oldest vampire in this room," he began. Just then, Alec returned with Amun's requested items, to which he offered a smile and a nod in thanks, before making the young woman as comfortable as he could. "What is her name?" he asked.

"Bella. Isabella Swan," Aro supplied. Amun nodded, and started running his fingers through Bella's hair. A calming gesture for both of them, though at the moment, he was gaining more comfort than she, considering she was passed out cold.

"I am the oldest vampire in this room," he repeated. "But what none of you really know is that I am the first vampire." This shocked the entire present body.

"How is that possible? There had to have been someone to create you," Caius asked. Amun again nodded.

"And there was. But they were not vampire. But, truth be told, I was never born human," again, a shock. It seemed as though the vampires listening were part of the marbled room, they were so still.

"I was born of a woman full of life. Pure life. And a man closer to death. My story, begins in the early days of Kemet. What is now known as Ancient Egypt for those of you who aren't old enough to know the old name. In the days when Khafre was building the second of the three Great Pyramids, a seer foretold of when the two prominent gods of the time, Isis and Osiris, would both send a champion to their people.

How, like their patrons, they would fall in love. How, like their patrons, that love would be tested, though not in the same way, with Osiris's champion being hacked to bits. That would, after all, kill him. He would be mortal, not a god," Amun mused with a sad smile on his face. His mate and fellow coven members, Demitri included, gathered around him in a show of support as he continues to comb his fingers through Bella's hair.

"Not long after, both were born. And as foretold, they fell in love. The champion of the goddess of life, fertility, and magic, and the champion of the god and judge of the dead and ruler of the underworld. It was an unlikely match, but then again, so were their patrons. They lived happily, producing one child. Myself," he said simply.

"Where does my mate come in to all of this," Edward said petulantly. Amun sent him a sharp look.

"I am getting to that, child. Though I would watch my tongue if I were you. She is not your mate. She is destined for another."

"Liar! She is mine! She will always be mine!"

"Edward," Alice warned, seeing the angered looks of his coven mates.

"This is your one warning, Edward Cullen. And you only get that out of my respect for Carlisle. Don't make me destroy you," Amun said softly. Edward, having seen his potential future in one of Alice's visions, wisely kept silent.

"The two champions lived happily, and died within days of each other. But before she died, my mother made me a promise. That they would both be reincarnated to see their son again. Every few generations, so he wouldn't get lonely. She kept that promise, and the cycle continued unchanged for nearly eight centuries. Until the reign of Pharaoh Seti I. My father had been reborn as the High Priest Imhotep. Keeper of the Dead. My mother, Irisi, was reborn as the High Priestess of Isis's temple in Thebes. Blessed Lifegiver.

Seti had a mistress. Anck-Su-Namun. She was beautiful and a witch with the backing of Set. Seti had plans to make her one of his wives, though he wanted to be sure that she was untouched by any other man, so he ordered that every morning, her body would be painted. Whoever dared touch her, would smear the paint, making the crime known. Anck-Su-Namun, while loving the notoriety being the Pharaoh's concubine gave her, hated his possessiveness, and soon grew tired of her inability to touch those around her. So she set her sights on the second most powerful man in the kingdom. Imhotep."

Amun sighed here, remembering the time. The hot, dry, arid climate of an Egypt with the desert right at it's door, and the monolithic structures towering, casting umbrella shadows over the streets. Simpler times. More dangerous times.

"Anck-Su-Namun, through Set, managed to get her hands on Hathor's Tears. Shed in bitterness when her love, Horus the Younger, was exiled after his father's throne was usurped by Set. The Tears clouded Imhotep's mind. Making it easier to bend him to her will. He abandoned his love for my mother," he said softly, looking at Bella, sleeping in his arms. "She fell ill, not long after his betrayal, to the sickness that would kill her mere weeks later."

"Anck-Su-Namun and my father continued their affair, until one day, my father got careless. He smudged the paint on her arms. Seti knew immediately and demanded of Anck-Su-Namun who had touched her. I imagine he was quite surprised to find it was one of his most trusted advisors. They killed him, and then Anck-Su-Namun killed herself to ensure my father got away, sure in the knowledge Imhotep would resurrect her. He very nearly succeeded if the Pharaoh's guard hadn't stopped him."

Amun sighed. "They condemned his priests to be mummified alive. Imhotep was cursed with the Hom-Dai."

"That's impossible! No one was actually cursed with that spell!" Aro insisted, excited at the drama inherent in Amun's story.

"So history would have you believe," Amun stated. "But it is true nonetheless. It seems, some time in the intervening 3,000 years, Imhotep was resurrected, and then ultimately lost, if my mother can not find his soul here on the living plane or on the wondering plane. With him being cursed, he would never be allowed to move on. What I don't understand, is that there is only one way that her spirit would be brought to the fore without my father, and as far as I know, that way has been lost with the city of Hamunaptra."

"Hamunaptra?" Aro asked uncomfortably, having an inkling of where this was heading. Amun nodded.

"City of the Dead and home of the wealth of Ancient Egypt. Amongst that wealth, the Book of Amun-Ra and The Book of the Dead. Only with both in close proximity to her would Irisi's spirit, my mother's spirit, become dominant. Otherwise, she would feel out of place, but be able to live peacefully as a normal mortal."

"Ah-," Aro intoned. "Then there is the answer. You see… we have the books."

The heads of every member of his coven surrounding Amun, including Demitri, lifted their heads to Aro. The shock on the Egyptian coven's faces were expected, but in all fairness, Demitri wasn't privy to everything that was brought into Volterra's walls. As such, he had no idea they had the two relics, or he would have called Amun straight away, knowing some about the man's past and what the books meant to the man.

"You… have them here? In the castle?" Amun asked slowly. "You can not open them, can you?"

Aro shook his head, before stating petulantly, "No. It seems that a key is needed."

"Depends on who wants to open it. Retrieve the books, Aro. They are my mother's rightful property," Amun commanded.

"What makes you think you can walk in here and give us orders, Amun," Caius bit out.

At that moment, Bella awoke. She said nothing and made no sound as she sat up, sitting cross legged, her back to Amun, and looked directly at Caius. Her stare was so intense, holding a mix of reproach and disappointment only a mother can pull off.

"**_Do not think that just because I don't have the books in my possession right this moment, Childe, that I can not end your existence. Give them to me, now,"_** Bella/Irisi commanded of Caius.

"**_Then prove you are who Amun claims you to be. Prove that you have knowledge of Life,"_** Caius challenged. The young woman's eyes narrowed at him before closing.

She took in a deep breath, grounding herself, before she began to chant. She chanted for a full two and a half minutes before a trail of shiny gray dust wove itself into the throne room in a straight line, swirling in a small cloud along the marble floor. The dust coalesced into a small dust devil before it slowly settled, revealing at it's center a young woman with black hair, flawless porcelain skin, and ruby red eyes. The entire throne room gasped as Bella's/Irisi's chanting died down to nothing.

"Didyme!" Marcus said in a shocked and jubilant tone as he appeared in the next second out of his chair and in front of his long dead mate. He brought a hand up and cupped her face. She looked at him in confusion for a moment.

"Marcus?" she asked uncertainly. Her eyes confused as they flew over his face and focused on his every feature.

"D-Didyme..." Aro stuttered, for the first time in ANY memory, as he stared in awe at his long dead sister.

While the Volturi were busy recovering from the reappearance of a long lost family member, Amun brought forward his coven.

"**_Kebi, my daughter,"_** Bella said to Amun's wife, as she kissed the woman's forehead in greeting.

"**_Amun and I wish to introduce our son, Benjamin,"_** Kebi said softly, for many in the room, it was the first they had heard the young woman speak. Many thought it was because Amun was such a domineering mate, but in truth, it was just because she was a very quiet person. At her introduction, a young vampire, well, as far as vampires go, moved into her line of sight.

"**_Grandmother,"_** he said respectfully with a bow.

Bella/Irisi smiled at Benjamin before holding her arms out to him as well, in an open invitation. An invitation he accepted as he stepped into her embrace. She kissed his forehead before smiling at him.

"**_My Blessing, young one. May you live a long and happy life,"_** she said with sadness and love in her eyes. She then turned to his young mate, Tia, who approached, and bowed.

"**_My lady," _**she said simply. Irisi smiled, before placing one hand on her lower abdomen. Tia felt a small tug, and gasped as the force spread to be strong enough to push her back.

"**_I never expected to be a grandmother. Now, I give you the chance to be one as well,"_** she told the still breathing hard young vampire. Benjamin's face broke into a bright smile as he joined his mate and held her as she regained her composure.

It was then the Volturi leaders made their presence known again. **_"Great mother,"_** Caius said behind the reunited family. Irisi turned to see a contrite look on his face. **_"Please, forgive my obstinate rudeness. You have returned someone so precious to us,"_** he said as he got to his knees, his head bowed.

"**_The Volturi is at your command,"_** Marcus added, he too going to his knees. This seemed to be a catalyst, as Aro followed, then every single member of the guard. Irisi rose from where she was still kneeling beside Amun, and approached the leaders.

"**_I would never ask the impossible of my children. I could feel the pain this young vampire's death caused, and as it wasn't her time, I could petition the Great Osiris to send her back. As I am not his champion, but the rightful mate of said champion, that is all I could do. It was he, who saw fit to return her. All praise to Osiris,"_** she said, bowing her head for a moment. She then continued. **_"I need the books."_**

"**_Then they shall be brought immediately,"_** Aro stated, waving to Alec, who left to retrieve them.


	2. Meeting the Past

**_A/N 2/1/2020: Hello again, lovely readers. Thank you so much for you patience. Writing has become a scarce past time between life and work. Especially with this new line they moved me to at work, I work so much OT now, I just want to crash and do nothing after. But the reception on this story was really good for the first chapter, so I thought I would add a second. Let me know your thoughts, y'all. Much Love. ~Angel_**

Alec handed the books to the young woman. He honestly didn't know what to call her. Isabella or Irisi. He looked at her as he passed her the books, his head tilted to one side in both question and curiosity. Irisi smiled at him.

"I am both," she says to him in English. "I am both Isabella, and Irisi. Though if it causes so much confusion, you may call me mother. I am, after all, the reason you exist as a vampire in the first place."

Alec was surprised that she seemed to be able to read him so easily, but took it in stride, nodding his head.

"You were the protector of these books? From the moment they fell into Volturi hands to now?" she asked him in her now heavily accented voice.

"I was, my lady," he said softly with a small bow of his head.

"Then I wish for you and your sister to remain so. I wish for the two of you to guard these books, just as my family will guard my body."

"Your body, my lady?"

Bella nodded. "I am going on a journey, but not physically. Physically, my body shall remain here. My spirit, however, my soul? That will wonder to the past. Long ago, we called that part of the soul a Ba. My Ba will immediately be drawn to his the moment it is in the in-between. To the last point in time he had a physical form. I shall watch. See what went wrong, and try to guide him back to me," she said, ending her small speech on a quiet note.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Edward screeched. He couldn't take being sidelined anymore. Not only were these monsters treating Bella with respect, even reverence, which they should, but he didn't want the monsters near her to begin with. But she was talking as if she didn't love him. And he would not tolerate that from his mate. "Bella, come over here, we are leaving!" he demanded of her.

The entirety of the Volturi, Kings, Queens, and Guards present, along with the Egyptian coven, all turned and hissed at him. Some outright growling.

"Edward, please. Don-." But Alice never got the chance to finish her warning. Edward steam rolled right over her.

"No! I will not stand for this. It's high time my mate learned where her loyalties should and will forevermore lie, and it will never be amongst these monsters!"

The hissing and growling, turned to roars, snarls, and crouched positions as they all circled around the reincarnated woman. The same woman who said nothing. Bella merely stood, placed her hand on the backs of her family as she passed, reassuring that she was there and safe… and that she most certainly could fight her own battles. They made way for her as she walked towards the front of the mass, to stare directly at Edward.

"Do you want to know how I did it, Edward Anthony Mason Cullen? How I made a mortal immortal?" she asked him softly, as she continued to calm the young vampires around her.

"It doesn't matter because you didn't create my race. Isabella Swan, you are a human girl. Nothing more. As the human mate of a vampire, I have the right to say how you are to conduct yourself in my world. You will come with me, away from this coven, and then I will take you to Carlisle, who will figure out a way to deprogram whatever brainwashing the Volturi have done to you in the months I have been away," Edward said angrily.

"Oh, Edward," Alice said in a soft despairing tone, as she shook her head. She was currently on the phone, telling her family to meet her here. But she knew by then, it would be more than too late.

"It is said, that the goddess Meskhenet, known also by the name Heqet, breathed a Ka, or life, into every child at the moment of conception. That is, after she had placed the child she had spun on her potter's wheel into the mother's body. I used a spell. After all, the world itself was created by magic, humans are just another form for said magic. This spell, hardened the base clay that made my son, turning him to alabaster. I dusted him in diamond dust, the hardest substance known to us at the time, for indestructibility. Placed a sacred scarab over his heart for immortality. Ensured his features were perfected and preserved. His very blood turning into a weapon should he need it. Pure acid. When he grew lonely, then found his mate in Kebi, I ensured the very thing that could kill, had a balance. That it could also restore life. Ensure my son was no longer alone. For eternity. It was a spell. A simple spell, with a lot of preparation and a lot of work. However-" she said, turning to look straight at him.

A look, that had Edward simultaneously wanting to cringe and freeze at the same time. "It takes significantly less to turn a vampire back into a human. All I need, is your name, and a word."

Their gazes held each other for several long moments. Moments that stretched to hours, weeks, years, centuries… an age… before Bella finally broke it. "But not your known name, no. Not the name everyone knows you as. You see, everyone is given a secret name with that breath of life. If known, it give it's speaker complete power over another. A name only known to the lady goddess who bestowed it. But nothing is hidden from the goddess of life, for Isis is just another name for Meskhenet. She is in every woman and is every woman," she said softly.

"_**Inyotef,"**_ she breathed, just barely loud enough for the vampires to hear and causing a shiver to run straight down Edward's spine. "Human."

Edward gasped as he suddenly had a pulse again. His skin flushed and darkened as blood once more flooded his veins. And every vampire could hear the steady, strong, wet thudding of his heart. Then the growls lowered, turning hungry. The vampires started closing in.

"No one touch him. He is to live out the remainder of his days mortal. He is to grow up. Grow old. The only way he is to learn is to be. And so he shall," Bella said, never raising her voice.

"Bella-" he said weakly, as he sunk to his knees, as fear for his newly regained life, and shock that he had what he wanted most restored to him, but lost the power to retain the woman he loved. He was well and truly powerless. In all aspects of the word.

"We would be honored to look after the books, Mother," Jane said softly, with a bow. Anyone who could get the better of Edward Cullen was good in her book.

Bella looked down at Jane with a smile, and nodded. "I will need a few provisions for the spell I will use. Frankincense and Myrrh, a censure. Candles that are unsented; one in green and the other in yellow. A mirror, and a knife. I must warn everyone. I will draw blood."

It seemed as though everyone inhaled sharply at the thought of the young woman drawing blood, but no one said a word against it. The power she held, the ability to turn a vampire human again was enough to still their tongues. A young vampire with flaming red hair entered the throne room with the things she asked for. She handed them to Bella with a bow, before backing away.

Bella sat on the floor, cross legged, arranging the two candles on either side of the mirror, setting up the censure to one side. It didn't take long for the smell of burning resin to hit the nostrils of everyone. The sharp, heady scent of frankincense, and the mellowing scent of myrrh. The young priestess anointed the candles with a few drops of her blood before lighting them. She starred at the mirror, and as everyone watched, they could see her eyes un-focus. They could all but see her spirit leave her body… and fly into the distant past.

o0o o0o o0o

Being a ghostly observer to past events is a curiosity. One could never be certain if they were going to be led directly to the object of their observation, or the beginning of the events as they unfolded. Irisi, in all of her lifetimes, never could tell if it was need based, want based, a way of understanding, or if the Mother Goddess just did things as she saw fit. As it was in this instance, it seemed to be the very beginning.

She found herself at the city entrance of Hamunaptra, and observed three separate groups of people. The first, a group of men on horse back in light, flowing, black garb. Medjai. Seems as though they were still keeping watch. The second and third groups were fighting each other. One seemed to be either English or Frenchmen. At least, that's what their dress would tell. The majority of them were obviously middle eastern. Locals. The last were desert people. Irisi shook her head. Even after millenia, people were still fighting over this city. A once beautiful desert oasis, turned into a ruined sandy shit hole.

She was honed in on two men. One was clearly white. A handsome man with blond-brown hair, desert tanned skinn, and clear ocean blue eyes. The other… looked like a weasel. Irisi was good at pointing out the weasels. They tended to stick close to the strongest of men until they fall. Seemed like this one had about as much loyalty as all men of that particular rodent family. None. She could point out a Eastern European accent. Possibly Czech or Hungarian, but the modern incarnation of herself was fully American and had no true knowledge to give anything but general region. Very general.

She watched the white man. American himself, given the accent. Though he seemed to be holding himself well in the Egyptian sun. Meaning he's been in Egypt for many years. He was brave. She watched him command his men, and when to fire. She watched him bravely stand as it looked as though he was about to be shot.

It was then she felt the first tug of Imhotep being near. She could hear his voice on the air. It wasn't big. Only a simple spell to reshape the earth around him. But it was enough. The sands above where she presumed he was placed shifted, forming a gaping maw. Irisi herself began chanting. Something as soft as a cooling summer breeze, just to calm the being beneath the sands. Calming him back to sleep.

She watched the man stumble out of the city and make his way into the scorching desert; turning only to spy a line of men along the ridge. They were part of neither of the fighting parties as they wore flowing dark clothing and were well away from the city. But Irisi imprinted one or two of them into her memory, having a feeling that they would come in handy sooner or later.

o0o o0o o0o

The scene changed. She found herself, by the plaques on the walls and literature laying around, in the Cairo Museum and Antiquities building. A young woman was on a ladder sorting an arm load of books. Irisi was surprised when she saw the face of the young woman, having to stop herself from kneeling in difference. One, she was nothing more than a ghost. The young woman wouldn't have seen her anyway. Two, this young woman was not her princess. It was her body and soul, but the memories weren't there. Nefertiti was a beautiful restless young warrior. This young woman had a thirst for adventure, but no practical application.

Irisi did have to muffle a laugh as she saw the once princess of all Egypt topple a whole library as if it were a kid playing with dominoes. She was interested to learn a Rameses destroyed Syria. She would have to look into that when she reunited with her body. She was amazed at the easy access of information when she had fully awoken, and her memories returned.

It was when the young reincarnated princess met up with her brother in this life, one she did not have in her previous one, that things started to take an interesting turn. Like any brother, Irisi assumed, he took a bit of joy out of pulling the occasional harmless prank on his sister. He shot a mummy out of it's sarcophagus, causing a jump scare. It was while she was berating him that Irisi felt a rush of the familiar.

The young man, Jonathan by name, brought out a key. Taking a quick glance at the sides, she was able to determine that it was the key to Imhotep's crypt in Hamunaptra. The young princess herself proved that she remembered something of her old life as she devoured the writing on the sides and pushed the necessary points to open it, revealing a folded up piece of papyrus.

"Jonathan," the young woman said excitedly.

"Yes?"

"I think you've found something," she breathes, pulling out the papyrus and opening it. Another quick glance from Irisi, found that it was a map straight to Hamunaptra.

o0o o0o

Carlisle, Esme, and the other Cullens were lead into the throne room 18 hours later. Edward had been removed so he could sleep and eat. Something that he himself hadn't thought about for the past century, had been forcefully brought to the fore when his stomach gave a rather loud gurgling sound. The blush that he produced did not help the thirst of some of the lower guard, and they were all bid by Aro to go hunt to quell the thirst.

Didyme, too, had retired with Marcus, to reacquaint herself with both her husband and this

new time period she found herself in. Neither Aro nor Caius expected to see them for quite some time. Those left in the throne room either circled the walls or the young ancient priestess scrying into the mirror in front of her.

They were all, naturally, extremely worried for their family. Alice had filled Carlisle on all that happened with Edward, and he in turn told his family. They, of course, didn't believe him at the time, though looking on how things were situated now, it caused a seed of doubt to creep into the countenance of them all. That hope, burrowing deeper in one of the younger members, as she searched for her brother.

"Ah! Carlisle, my old friend!" Aro said genially.

"Aro," Carlisle said, holding out his hand. He didn't know exactly how to put all of his worry into words, so he felt it prudent to tell the elder immortal through his gift. Aro took his hand and concentrated over it, as he read Carlisle's thoughts, focusing primarily on the more recent.

"Hmm," Aro intoned as he pulled back and turned towards Felix. "Please, go gather young Edward. Tell him his family is here to see him."

"He is unharmed?" Carlisle breathed in relief. Aro tipped his head to the side in contemplation of the question.

"Depends on your definition, old friend. Have we done anything to him, you wonder? No. No one has touched young Edward except to steer him to his quarters. But he is no longer… well-" Here he trailed off just as Felix and Edward, who had been placed in a room not all that far from the throne room, just for this instance, entered.

"How-?" Rosalie asked in shock as she took in Edward's obviously beating heart.

"Again, not through any power that we here within the Volturi possess," Aro looked towards Bella and those around her. At his distracted glance, the others turned and saw their daughter/sister, sitting cross legged on the floor in front of a mirror with incense burning and a faint smell of blood. Blood, as they now took the time to fully take in, they immediately recognized as Bella's.

"Bella!" Esme said. She took the smallest of steps towards the young woman, and every vampire in the throne room bar the rulers, either growled in warning or tightened ranks around the girl.

"I wouldn't advise trying to break through their ranks to the girl. Right now, she is the safest person in the entire world," Caius told them all.

"Why?" Rosalie asked. "What has she done to earn such difference? Such loyalty of the Volturi?"

"She returned something infinitely precious to us," came Marcus's voice as he and Didyme re-entered the room.

"Brother! We did not think to see you before the month was out at least," Aro said in some surprise.

"And miss everything this young woman may do in the next week?!" Didyme said with a smile and a happy glint in her eye. "You wouldn't dare take my entertainment from me this soon after I've returned, would you brother?"

It was now Carlisle's turn to gasp as a ghost he had only seen in paintings stepped forward and spoke to her brother in such a teasing tone.

"It seems Alice left out key points in her telling of events," Carlisle murmured.

"Indeed. Come, we shall fill in the holes. It won't take long, though we may be in here for a while.

o0o o0o

The next jump had Irisi scrambling a bit for context. The young princess and her brother seemed to be preparing to board a water vessel. Again, Irisi marveled.

"Do you really think he's going to show up?" the princess asked.

"Yes, undoubtedly, knowing my luck," her half groaned back. Irisi was wondering who they were talking about. "He may be a cowboy, but I know the breed. His word is his word."

But the princess was boarding on irrate. "Well, personally I think he's filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel. I don't like him one bit," she said emphatically.

"Anyone I know," a voice cut in. Irisi gasped and then laughed a little at the princess's face. The man who spoke, Irisi could see, was a gorgeous man with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. The same one she had seen earlier. Then she had to wonder at what she missed if the princess had thought him a filthy, rude scoundrel not two minutes ago.

She watched in amusement as the princess floundered out a greeting then her brother greeting the man enthusiastically. Seems he had some skill as a pick pocked, as the man, O'Connell, checked to ensure he still had his pocket book. Then apologized for punching the princess's brother. Now she was really sorry she missed that. Seemed like it could have been funny.

"Mr. O'Connell," Evy, Irisi remembered her brother saying, pushed in. "Can you look me in the eye and guarantee me that this isn't some sort of a flimflam? Because if it is, I am warning you..." she said with a narrowing of the eyes. It looked as though this O'Connell didn't take to kindly to such talk though as he cut in.

"You're warning me? Lady, let me put it this way, my whole damn garrison believed in this so much, that without orders, they marched halfway across Libya and into Egypt to find that city. When we got there, all we found was sand and blood," he said, his eyes showing the haunting truth of his words. Irisi shook her head. The young princess always did like to get herself into trouble. Seems her later counterpart upheld the tradition.

"Let me get your bags," he said, as he grabbed their luggage and boarded the ferry.

Jonathan teased Evy a bit, then they had a conversation with a man who Irisi couldn't help but feel a sense of slimeyness from, before they headed out for their journey across the ageless desert on modern contraptions to find and ancient ruined city.


	3. Witnessing the Past

_**A/N 3/23/2020: So, life is nutty right now, ain't it? I hope all of my readers, if indeed I have any, over seas and in the most affected areas especially, are keeping safe. I've started making surgical masks myself, so that we don't have to go out totally unprotected. I even contacted my brother (a combat medic) and did random internet searches to see how to make them better. Surprisingly easy if you have the stuff. But guys, please, stay safe. Listen to the experts and be smart. Wash the hands, which you learn when you are a toddler, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, ditto on the toddler learning, and don't get into people's faces. It may not stop the spread, but it will limit it. Much love. ~Angel**_

The next jump saw Irisi looking upon the comfortingly familiar sight of the Nile. Though it was not the Nile of Ancient Kemet. The Nile then roared and came up to one's waist at the shore, and could easily drown a man a man at the midway point, and they would never be found. Now, it was a pitiful ankle deep at the shore, and though one could still easily loose their life on the river, it could easily be swum from shore to shore.

It was night, and she was looking out from the ferry, moving at a lazy pace down river. The princess was reading. She had always been one to devour knowledge. But Irisi saw something the princess missed in her preoccupation. Another boat, or rather, three other boats, nothing more than a canoes, skimming silently along towards them. Each holding 3 to four men. She caught the flash of a blade in the moonlight, and thought that was rather sloppy of the men in the boat. Luck was on their side that this ferry didn't seem to have much in security, and that she was unable to communicate with anyone of this period.

Both Irisi and the princess jumped when a heavy bag was thrown onto the table she was sitting at. The man who threw it, the cute American she saw, made a face of contrition.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you," he said, removing his jacket, and revealing two pistols in side holsters.

"The only thing that scares me, Mr. O'Connell, are your manners," Evy snipped.

O'Connell made another face. "Still angry about that kiss, huh?" Irisi was intrigued, and really didn't like the fact she missed said kiss. In ancient times, the princess never gave the slightest thought to romance. She believed, and still do as she watched the princess's new incarnation, that it would take a rather strong man to muscle his way into her heart. If need be, quite literally.

"Well, if you call that a kiss," Evy said, as if daring him to do better. O'Connell narrowed his eyes at her and unrolled the bag on the table in one fluid, albeit jerky, motion. Evy was stunned at the artillery stored inside, while Irisi was impressed. The man was toting around an entire personal arsenal, and she knew why. She also knew, when Imhotep made an appearance, all of it would mean absolutely bupkiss.

"Um… Did I miss something? Are we… Are we going into battle?" Evy asked, putting down her book nervously and taking off her glasses.

O'Connell had sat in a chair opposite her and began cleaning his pistols. "Lady, there's something out there. Something underneath that sand."

"Yes, well, I'm hoping to find a certain artifact. A book, actually. My brother thinks there's treasure. What do you think's out there?" she asked, picking up a trigger guard.

"In a word? Evil," he said simply, taking the part from her. "The Bedouin and the Tuaregs believe that Hamunaptra is cursed."

"Oh, look, I don't believe in fairy tales and hokum, Mr. O'Connell, but I do believe that one of the most famous book in history is buried there. The Book of Amun-Re. It contains within it all of the secret incantations of the old kingdom. It's what first interested me in Egypt when I was a child. It's why I came here. Sort of a life's pursuit," Evy said passionately. Irisi sniggered at the innocence the princess was displaying, but sobered, as she realized that the reason she was here is because at least one of the books had been found… and used.

"And the fact that they say that it's made out of pure gold, makes no never mind to you? Right?" O'Connell asked as he was wiping down his rifle.

"You know your history," Evy said approvingly.

"I know my treasure," he corrected.

Evy all of a sudden got more than a littler nervous. "Um, by the way, why did you kiss me?" she asked haltingly.

O'Connell gave a chuckle as he checked the sights on yet another handgun. "I don't know. I was about to be hanged. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Evy looked affronted and got up in a huff with her book before stomping away. Irisi laughed. Strong man indeed. As well as brutally honest. O'Connell didn't hold anything back. His response just made her laugh harder.

"What? What'd I say?" He asked innocently as he turned and followed her progress towards the camels at stabled in the back.

His attention was caught by a squirrelly man hitting himself on something as he hid. Once O'Connell pulled him out, Irisi recognized him as the same squirrelly man that abandoned him and his troops as they fought for Hamunaptra, Irisi was all for O'Connell shooting him. It seemed that he was up to more of his no goodiness as he was the one leading the other Americans right to the City of the Dead. Irisi shook her head. Some things are meant to stay lost. The man was a squirrelly little pig and he too, should get and stay lost.

She laughed and jumped up and down excitedly, cheering him on when he threw the man, Beni, as she learned his name was, overboard. It was then, as he turned to put his artillery away, that he noticed something amiss. Wet footprints leading in the direction of the cabins. When he followed, Irisi actually stayed put. That many men in the canoes were out to cause a ruckus. And they didn't disappoint.

o0o o0o o0o

"She turned him human..." Rosalie said in a stunned whisper.

"It's impossible, Rosalie," Carlisle said adamantly, though the evidence was right in front of him. None of the family had taken their eyes off of Edward since he had entered the throne room. It was, if Edward were honest with himself, making him even more nervous than having the eyes of the Volturi guard on him.

"And yet, here he is. Alive and well," Aro said in an amused tone. "Our lady mother has said that he should remain human, and human is what we will ensure he remains. In truth, I could not have envisioned a more apt punishment. We were going to give him his wish for almost exposing himself. It seems young Bella has effectively taken the matter out of our hands."

"Emmett? Do you think…?" Rosalie asked her mate in a whisper full of reluctant hope.

"_**Nefernefret… Haurunhotep,"**_ Irisi breathed, though her trance like gaze into the mirror in front of her and the burning incense, didn't ease up. Both Emmett and Rosalie froze, hearing their deep names. Rosalie's hand sought her mate's, and she grasped it hard.

"We thought you were still afar, my lady," Marcus said in a reverent tone as he gave a shallow bow.

"_**Human." **_Both Rosalie and Emmett stumbled at their sudden pulses. Rosalie's hand went to her heart above her left breast. Then two fingers sought the pulse in her neck. She laughed exultantly, as she turned to her husband and did the same with him. Everyone stood agog at the display, though the members of the Volturi less so than the Cullen coven, it was still a shock.

"She still is afar, Aro," Amun said. "However, a part of her will always remain cognizant of her surroundings. She must have felt young Ms. Cullen's pain, and rectified it."

Rosalie, who had parted from her husband, whom she had passionately kissed, and slowly walked over to Bella and her protective entourage. She knelt just outside the circle and bowed her head.

"Thank you, Bella," she said softly. "Youu have no reason to do this, but thank you."

The young priestess's attention never wavered, but she did speak. "Immortality is not meant to be the curse many say it is. I provided the means, but it is Fate that determines the course. Immortality is meant to provide a means. A lesson. You, childe, were meant to heal. Live to find and turn your mate. You have done that and more. You have learned to cherish life. Both mortal and immortal. You tried to warn me. Tried to tell this incarnation of myself everything being immortal entailed. Your reward is your humanity, and that of your mate. Live well, daughter of Hathor."

Amun sucked in a breath and turned to the entranced girl. **"****Are you sure, mother?"** he asked her.

Bella/Irisi chuckled. For a moment, everyone heard two distinct laughes. **"****Of course. Her soul shines as brightly as any child from the gods."**

o0o o0o o0o

Irisi's next sight was of Rick and the princess taking shelter from gunfire. Although, whoever was shooting, was getting closer. Evy had to pull Rick out of the way as two bullets ended up where his head had been split moments before. Rick looked at Evelyn in an exasperated glance, annoyed, it seemed, at being interrupted loading his weapon, before he turned from cover and started shooting at the Magi. It took Irisi a moment to place the face tattoos, but it was them. The descendants at any rate.

Once Rick had blasted his way into a clear spot by the railing, he holstered his weapon and turned to the princess.

"Can you swim?" he asked in a raised voice, due in part to adrenaline, and in part to the noise of the horses and people trying to escape a raging inferno.

"Of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it," she said breathlessly.

"Trust me," the man said, picking her up bridal style, and Irisi had to admit, it was pretty impressive of the man. "It calls for it." He then dropped the young woman over the side, and turned to get his weapons bag. Before he could follow Evy, however, a Magi rose to meet him. Kicking the ever living daylights out of him before he was pushed up against a post, the Magi's hands around his neck. That's when Rick O'Connell got angry. Irisi jumped up and down, cheering for the Egyptian raised American as he pulled out a few impressive boxing moves to gain the upper hand and push his opponent into a blazing room.

She winced at the thought of a man dying, her actually witnessing it, but laughed uncontrollably when Rick's former warden came up to him, asking frantically what he should do.

"Wait here! I'll go get help!" Rick said as he slung his bag over his shoulder, then himself over the railing of the ferry. Honestly, the stupidity of some people. She actually counted down from three on her fingers as the realization dawned on the stupid little man.

She waited just long enough to see the princess's brother get off the boat, or rather throw himself off amid an explosion, before she let the feeling of weightlessness carry her to another scene.

It opened, once again, at the gates of Hamunaptra. Only the sun hadn't hit it quite right yet, so it was still hidden in the reflected horizon. She shook her head at the horses. Those poor animals were not made to travel long distances in the desert. The shifting sands weren't good for their hooves nor their legs, and that's saying nothing for the heat!

Rick's friend made fun of his camel, but Irisi applauded the smaller party. They knew how to travel. Light, unburdened.

"Get ready for it," Rick tells the princess and her brother.

"For what?" Evy asks.

"We're about to be shown the way."

They watched as the sun rose, and the City of the Dead literally melted into existence as the firey orb rose above it.

"Will you look at that?"

"Can you believe it?"

"Hamunaptra."

The American side murmured in awe. Rick only had one thing to say.

"Here we go again." And he seemed anything but pleased to be in the shadow of the ancient city once more. Remembering Imhotep's last greeting, she couldn't blame him.

It was then, everyone began marshalling and urging their steeds towards it's gates, hoping to reach it first in order to win some kind of bet. Well, Irisi couldn't interfere with events that the humans had a part of, but animals were another matter all together. Animals were much more in tune with their instincts than humans were. A few whispered words into the princess's camel as she urged him on saw the poor creature bellow and pick up speed as it sailed across the sands and into the city.

It was amidst this, she felt part of her consciousness register life being returned to two of the immortal, Rosalie and Emmett, if their life forces were correct. Also, a change in her focus. It seemed her son had shifted it from the small mirror, so a larger, more malleable surface… water. She could work with water.

o0o o0o o0o

Rosalie and Emmett were brought food and chairs to sit in, as the newly alive couple refused to be moved from the proceedings until the girl that gave them their lives again was present enough to hear their thanks.

"Is there a way to see what she is seeing?" Rosalie wondered as she worried over Bella's entranced condition.

Amun thought for a moment. "There may be. We would need a large reflective surface brought in. Water is the best medium."

"We can have a small pool brought in," Marcus said. It took twenty minutes for a metal sided pool the size of a queen bed to be built and filled with water.

Amun carefully arranged Irisi's tools around her, and moved her so she was kneeling on the side. He took her hand and whispered in her ear. **"****Mother, we wish to see. To watch. Show us what you see, through your eyes." **Irisi's hand, guided by her son, waved over the pool and suddenly, they were able to see. A ruined ancient city crawling with men.

"Hamunaptra," Amun said reverently. "My father's city."

They watched as Irisi followed a small group down into a darkened room.

"Do you realize we're standing in a room no one has entered in over 3,000 years?" a female voice said.

"I know that voice," Amun said. Emmett chuckled when a male asked what smelled, then realized it was the man behind him. A shadow went over to a round object, dusting off the cobwebs.

"And then there was light," said the female voice. The room lit up and Amun gasped.

"It's the princess!" he said. He then shook his head. "Well, they reincarnated mother. Why not Nefertiti as well."

"Nefertiti? The queen, Nefertiti?" Aro asked, high on drama.

"The one and only. Makes sense she would be reincarnated at the time Imhotep rose. She had her own secrets to protect. Though given the look of it, it's not quite time for those secrets to come out," he said, ending in a soft murmur.

"Hey, that is a neat trick," a male said.

"Oh, my God. It's a Sah-netjer."

"What?"

"A preparation room," the woman elaborated.

"Preparation for what?" the man asked.

"For entering the afterlife," she said spookily.

"Mummies, my good son. This is where they made the mummies," the funny lanky man said.

They watched as the group went single file down a corridor, and jumped as they heard the skittering of tiny bugs all around.

"Scarabs. Flesh eaters. Don't want those in you," Amun said.

They made it to a statue, and had a stand off with another group, both claiming they had dibs, as it were, over the excavation of the monolith. It was the young woman who diffused the situation, after a small tiff over her tool kit. It seems she had found another way of it.

And she had, in a fashion. They ended up just below the statue, but digging right under where Imhotep was buried.

"According to these hieroglyphics, we're underneath the statue. We should come up right between his legs," the woman said proudly.

"When those damn Yanks go to sleep… no offense," he said to the man swinging the pickax.

"None taken."

"We'll dig our way up and steal that book right out from under them."

"Are you sure we can find this secret compartment thing?" asked the man digging.

"Oh, yes, if those beastly Americans haven't beaten us to it. No offense."

"None taken," he said with a grunt.

"Say, where'd our smelly little friend get to?" asked the lanky one curiously.

Both the other man and the woman shrugged and went about their business. They worked for another five minutes before they settled down for a rest and the women went into an in depth description of the mummification process.

"Let me get this straight, they ripped out your guts, and stuffed them in jars," asked the American.

"And then they'd take out your heart as well. Oh and do you know how they took out your brains?" she asked excitedly.

The second male, playing golf with some stones and a sledge hammer, looked a bit sick.

"Evy, I don't think we need to know this," he said, raising the hammer for emphasis.

She continued, seeming to ignore the skinny man. "They'd take a sharp, red-hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit, and then rip it all out through your nostrils."

"That's gotta hurt," said the American uncomfortably, feeling his nose as he said it.

"It's called mummification. You'll be dead when they do this," Evy clarified.

"For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification," he tells the other man.

"Likewise," he agreed. It was then he gave one hell of a swing to the stone, and a giant chest like object, fell from the ceiling where they had been digging.

"One hell of a shot, Tiger," Emmett said as he watched the pool. Felix and Demitri agreed.

Once the dust settled, the party clearing their lungs of the dust, Evy spoke. "Oh, my God. It's a… it's a sarcophagus. Buried at the base of Anubis. He must have been someone of great importance," she said before adding haltingly, "Or he did something very naughty."

She grabbed her tool kit and took out a small brush, and she blew and brushed away the sand to reveal the hieroglyphs beneath.

"Well, who is it," asked the lanky one.

"He that shall not be named," she read slowly.

The American blew away a patch of sand on the sarcophagus and pointed to it. "This looks like some sort of lock."

"Well, whoever's in here sure wasn't getting out," said the other guy.

"Yeah, no kidding. It'd take us a month to crack into this thing without a key."

"A key," Evy said in dawning realization. "A key! A key! Now, that what he was talking about!" She turned and rummaged through their things, coming up with a small metallic box.

"W-who was talking about what?"

"The man on the barge, the one with the hook. He was looking for a key," she explained opening a box and laying the jagged points to fit with the mold.

"Hey, that's mine," the lanky man said. She beamed at both men before they heard a pain filled scream coming down the corridor.

A scream that was accompanied by the flailing form of a man, clutching at his head and running without seeing where he was going. Everyone, both within the time and without, watched as the man ran head first into a wall, where he fell back and lay un-moving.

"Carlisle?" Emmett asked in fear. "What could do that to a human?" He didn't want to lose his new life after all. If he could find out what it was, he sure as shit meant to avoid it at all cost.

Carlisle shook his head. "Could be any number of things. An aneurysm maybe."

Amun shook his head. "No. You heard them. Scarabs. I'm assuming he ran afoul of a trap. Woke one that had been in hibernation, and he wasn't prepared for it."


	4. Speaking to the Past

_**A/N: This is a short chapter, and mostly follows the movies than adding anything new to the story. I'm sorry about that, but life is happening, and I figured I'd give y'all what I had. Hope you enjoy. ~Angel**_

The scene jumped, and the transition was jarring for everyone watching.

"What happened?" Esme asked.

"The spell shows events in a linear fashion, but it will only show what it deems important," Amun tells them.

The scene had transported them to a campfire later that night. The siblings were talking to one another, trying to figure out what happened to their companion, when the American came up to them.

"Seems our little American friends had a little misfortune of their own today," he tells them sitting down. "Three of their diggers were, uh, melted."

"What?!"

"How?"

"Salt acid. Pressurized salt acid. Some kind of ancient booby-trap," he said, scanning the area around them.

Carlisle looked up to Amun. "There's no evidence of actual curses amongst the hieroglyphs on any tomb walls. Only spells and such for the continued good health of the deceased," he tells the elder vampire.

"That current archaeologist know about," Amun corrects. "But remember, even now, Hamunaptra is thought to be a legend, even if there has been small evidences of it's existence have been found. Yet here we are looking at past events taking place in that very city."

They refocus on the woman, Evy, telling the other two off for believing in curses, and her brother searching through a bag, before he withdraws his hand with a pained cry. On inquiries to his cry, he pulls out a bottle.

"Glenlivet, 12 years old!" he says, uncorking it. "Well, he may have been a stinky fellow, but he had good taste."

There a commotion amongst the horses and the camels, and the American handed Evy his gun. "Take this," he said, getting up to check it out. "And stay here." His order was sharp and obviously meant to be taken seriously, but when in history has a woman ever listened to such an order.

Evy immediately scrambled to follow. "No, wait, wait. Wait for me. Wait!" she exclaimed.

"Evy! Excuse me, but didn't the man just say stay here? Evy!" her brother said, following.

Emmett laughed. "Good luck, brother."

They watched a fight break out between the explorers and excavators, and a band of men on horseback.

"Medjai," Amun mumbled.

It was, like any fight, chaos. They could see that the American could handle himself well with a gun. And Jasper liked that he took chances, such as with the dynamite.

"Why are they so protective of the city? It's in ruins?" Jasper asked.

"It's not the city. It's what's beneath it."

"And that is?" he asked.

"Remember the sarcophagus?" Amun asked. That quieted everyone, though they had more questions. They were willing to wait to see how things unfolded.

o0o o0o o0o

Irisi felt when the others were able to see what she was seeing. She sighed as she felt the touch of her son. She turned to the unfolding events. It was some time later, after the small skirmish, and she saw that the princess was well and truly intoxicated. And trying to learn how to throw a proper punch in the mean time. It was cute to witness her drunken flirtation with the American, but his serious interest in her. She smiled at his chivalry. Once the princess had passed out, he lay her down on her bed roll and tucked her in for the night. He was a good one, she thought.

It seemed that everyone worked within the city during the hot of the day and then got together again in the cool of the evening around camp fires. It was the night after the skirmish that found Evy enviously eyeing one of the American diggers, and Irisi couldn't blame her. He had the Book of the Dead. Both of them knew that he wasn't supposed to have that. The princess herself had a handful of skeletons.

As Evy and Irisi joined her camp around the fire, she saw that the had company. Said company were waving around Canopic jars. Irisi gave a small growl at the disrespect. Her ire could be felt through her very being and into the throne room of the Volturi.

o0o o0o o0o

"The Great Mother is angry," Demitri said. Amun nodded.

"As are Kebi and I. Those are Canopic jars, Demitri. They hold organs of the deceased. The do not belong to my father. I do not know whose they would be carrying around, but they shouldn't just be toted around as conquered treasure. They should be treated with much more respect."

They watched as the princess came up and sat into the previously occupied space by the man known as O'Connell.

"Look what I found!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Scarab skeletons, flesh-eaters. I found them inside our friend's coffin. They can stay alive for years feasting on the flesh of a corpse. Unfortunately for our friend, he was still alive when they started eating him."

"So someone threw these in with our guy and then they slowly ate him alive?" O'Connell asked, holding up one of the found little skeletons.

"Very slowly," the young woman emphasized.

"He certainly wasn't a popular fellow when they planted him, was he?" her brother asked.

"Well, he probably got a little too frisky with the pharaoh's daughter," O'Connell jibed. Irisi shook her head at his close assumption.

She and her audience in the outer world watched as the princess explained the workings of the curse. Having officially freaked out her brother and their guide, the men turned in, and it seemed for a while that the princess had joined them. But a few hours after both their camp and the American camp had quieted, the princess had risen and crept into the tent of the professor in the next camp.

o0o o0o o0o

"She hasn't changed one bit," Amun murmured.

"What do you mean?" Carlisle asked.

"Nefertiti used to find herself in all kinds of trouble too. Though she knew then what not to get into in her original incarnation. I looks like we're about to get a front row seat to my father's resurrection."

They turned their attention back to the pool.

"That's called stealing, you know," O'Connell said without opening his eyes.

"According to you and my brother, it's called borrowing," she said, setting down the book and riffling through Jonathan's pockets.

"I thought the Book of Amun-Ra was made out of gold," he mused.

"It is made out of gold. This isn't the Book of Amun-Ra. This is something else. I think this may be the Book of the Dead.

Rick's eyes widened as Evy managed to get the key open. "The Book of the Dead? Are you sure you want to be playing around with this thing?"

"It's just a book," she said, turning the key into the book's lock. "No harm ever came from reading a book." As if to contradict her words, a low moaning wind ripped through the city as she fully opened the front cover. Evy jumped as the fire wickered in the wind.

"That happens a lot around here," Rick mused. Evy started reading, and when he looked back down to the page, he asked. "So, what's it say?"

"_**Amun Ra, Amun Dei,**_ It speaks of the night and of the day. _**Tsu eh ah haru-muk-tub, sinma-sibet baiya. Ima tipin su pike set sueh yatu eh**_," but she was then cut off.

"NO! YOU MUST NOT READ FROM THE BOOK!" Yelled the professor, who had woken to find said book missing.

"What's so scary about reading from the Book of the Dead?" Emmett asked.

His question was almost immediately answered when they watched a unholy swarm of locust materialize out of seemingly no where.

"What the fuck?!" Emmett exclaimed.

"Ten plagues remember. It started with locust," Amun explained.

o0o o0o o0o

Irisi watched and slowly made her way through the familiar, if now ruined, halls of Hamunaptra. She was making her way towards the sarcophagus, though she knew it would be empty. She could hear the ruckus the others were making as they sought to get away from the swarm. When she reached it, the sarcophagus was empty, but the room was not. A walking mummy was slowly making his way around the room.

"_What in the blue fuck is that?!"_ she heard from the waking world. Sounded like Emmett.

"_**Oh, my love,"**_ she whispered, though this was but a memory. He would never hear her. But a curious thing happened then. He turned his head as if he could. Thinking it over, she came to conclusion he may have heard her. He was on the living plane, yes, but only half. He was still, obviously, very much dead. And she was using the void he had wondered to view these events.

He turned his body then. Though he was a dry rotted shell of the man he once was, he was still lean, and move fluidly and gracefully. Of everything, she mourned one thing above all.

"_**Would that you could see me, my love. See me, and look upon me as you once did. I miss our moments. Just gazing at one another, letting the world pass us, knowing we had all the time in the world. If only we knew."**_ she finished on a sigh.

She watched as he left the room, stalking the halls of his city, knowing them as a man knows his own house. He stalked them until he came upon a man who was slowly making his way, one hand on the walls, and another out in front of him. As if blind.

"_**He was one of the men who set off the curse. One of the sacrifices,"**_ she realized, and watched as he pulled the eyes and tongue from the man. She cried, hoping that her earlier wish, spoken aloud in grief, hadn't influenced his decision to torture this man.

Irisi slightly jumped when the trick wall behind her opened and the princess stumbled into the hall. She sighed and shook her head. Always getting into trouble, this one. Always in the worst place at the wrong times. At first the princess had been relieved, seeing one of the Americans. But he turned and reached for her in his agony, calling for his eyes and tongue.

She screamed and turned to run, only to stop dead mid step and come face to face with her risen creature. He herded her to a wall, matching her every step. She foolishly begged for the American to stay as he crawled away, moaning about his lost tongue.

"_**Anck-Su-Namun?"**_ He questioned.

"_**No! Please, beloved,"**_ Irisi pleaded.

"_**Come with me my Princess Anck-Su-Namun."**_

"There you are! Will you quit playing Hide-and-Seek. Come on. Let's get out of here," O'Connell said as he rushed into the hall. But seeing Evy hadn't taken her focus from the walking mummy in front of her, Rick too turned, and startled at what he saw. It was then everyone else entered, and skid to a halt as they caught sight of Imhotep.

Imhotep, who upon seeing his perceived intruders, gave an inhuman scream to intimidate O'Connell. But the man rose to it like any other American. He screamed right back. Gave it a good deep growl within it too, before he cocked his gun and fired right into Imhotep's midsection. Everyone used the distraction to slip past Imhotep and run out of the city. Only their path was then block by Medjai. The leader removed his face covering and approached them.

"I told you to leave or die. You refused. Now you may have killed us all, for you have unleashed a creature that we have feared for more than 3,000 years," he said gravely.

"Relax. I got him," Rick snipes.

"No mortal weapon can kill this creature. He's not of this world," the Medjai pressed. He moved aside when two of his compatriots brought forth Mr. Burns. In the light of the torches everyone bore, his injuries were even more gruesome. Henderson and Daniels eased him to the ground to rest.

"You bastards," Daniels exclaimed.

"What did you do to him?" Henderson asked.

"We saved him. Saved him before the creature could finish his work. Leave, all of you, quickly, before he finishes you all. He orders his fellow Medjai and they lower their raised rifles just enough to move swiftly forward into the city.

"We must now go on the hunt, and try to find a way to kill him," he finishes, passing O'Connell.

"I already told you, I got him," he says to the passing man.

"Know this," the Medjai says ominously. "This creature is the bringer of death. He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop." And with this as his parting words, he turns and follows the other black clad men into the bowls of the city.


End file.
